Cultivating in a magical world with the most powerful system

Lin Zhi woke up once more, his head feeling as swollen as a balloon after a clumsy bump. He gave it a vigorous shake—as if trying to dislodge a particularly stubborn peanut—and then hauled himself off the ground.

Of course, he found himself in another bizarre locale. Neither his own memories nor Pro's left even a whisper of recognition about this place.

"Have I accidentally hit the time-travel lottery again?" he muttered to himself.

Glancing upward, Lin Zhi spotted not one but two fist-sized vortices—a red one and a blue one—spinning slowly like they were at a cosmic tea party. No sun in sight, yet everything was blindingly bright, and the ground shimmered like a mirror with a thin film of water on it.

"No matter how you look at it, this place screams 'heaven'—or so I'd like to think," he grumbled inwardly.

Just then, a ghostly voice interjected from behind him, "This is not heaven."

Lin Zhi nearly leaped backward like a startled housecat. Not only was the sudden voice a shock, but it was also eerily as if the speaker had been reading his mind. Turning around, he found a boy in a training suit with a pallid face standing there. Lin Zhi, now on full alert, took a few cautious steps back and examined this unexpected visitor.

In a twist of fate, Lin Zhi had reverted to his Earthly 17-year-old self—freshly into high school, fit in body, but with a brain that seemed to be on a permanent coffee break. The mysterious boy, roughly the same age, had striking features and shockingly white hair—so much so that Lin Zhi mused, "What a promising lad! It's a pity he got rewarded with premature white hair; talk about overachieving."

"Stop your dirty thoughts," the white-haired boy snapped. "I sent you here because I have something important to tell you."

Lin Zhi blinked and fired off three questions in rapid succession: "Important? Who are you? Where exactly is this place?"

Clearing his throat with a voice as hoarse as an old record, the boy replied, "I am one of the most powerful systems in the universe. After thousands of years, I finally got a human body. I was on my way to help my next host become a world hegemon—but a mysterious force intercepted me and booted me into this unknown plane, landing me in your body by accident. Love it or not, you're my host now, and I'm supposed to train you. Only problem is, that pesky force severely damaged my system. Most of my fancy features are now, well, pretty much toast."

The white-haired guy's words came fast and furious, leaving Lin Zhi with a stark realization: cherish your body, or you might end up hosting a malfunctioning cosmic system.

With a dramatic glare that could curdle milk, the boy continued, "The most important thing is: I'm going to fall asleep, and who knows when I'll wake up. When I do—and fix my system—I'll help you dominate the world."

After digesting this cosmic pep talk, Lin Zhi couldn't help but grumble, "So you're basically a broken system now? Then what's your point?"

"How dare you! You're so rude!" the white-haired boy retorted, then sighed theatrically, "Fine, I'll use my last ounce of strength to help you train." With that, he vanished in a puff—only to reappear moments later, gently placing a finger on Lin Zhi's brow. "My name is Li Xuanchen," he announced.

Before Lin Zhi could muster another thought, a clear stream of water flowed into his mind, and down he went—consciousness on the fritz again.

He slept deeply—so deeply that his dream replayed all of Pro's old memories like a late-night movie marathon. When the credits finally rolled, a comfortable, otherworldly ease settled over him.

A sudden, ravenous hunger eventually roused Lin Zhi. He found himself sprawled on a lavish bed in a room that oozed luxury. Peeking out the window, he saw that the sky had darkened, with a blue moon hanging lazily in the clouds—a celestial nod to the absurdity of his new life.

Armed with all the memories of the original Pro, Lin Zhi now had a crash course on life in the Iraca Continent. But first things first: food. His eyes caught sight of a plate of oddly shaped fruits on a desk near a bookshelf. Recognizing them as edible—and delicious—Iraca fruits, he dove in like a kid in a candy store.

The fruits were sweet, tangy, and downright delightful, momentarily distracting him from the bizarre mess of cosmic host drama. While munching away, Lin Zhi's mind raced with a plan: to prevent anyone from discovering that Pro's body was now being commandeered, he'd stick with the name "Pro." After all, ghosts in Iraca had a nasty habit of hijacking bodies, and nobody wants to be mistaken for a ghost on the lam.

Balancing a fruit in each hand, juice dribbling comically from his chin, Pro scanned a bookshelf stuffed with books of every conceivable size and thickness. "Maybe I'll read up on this world—once I'm not so hungry," he thought. But alas, even after devouring an entire plate of fruit, he was only about 40% full. His appetite, it seemed, had been cranked up to eleven.

Determined to find more grub, Pro scoured the room. His searching sounds were a bit on the noisy side—enough to alert someone. Suddenly, the door creaked open. Pro spun around to see a dignified lady in a sleek black-and-white maid outfit standing in the doorway. Her expression was an odd mix of surprise, confusion, and that "I've seen it all" look.

After a brief, awkward pause, the maid straightened her face and, in a soft, measured tone, said, "Dear Master Pro, it's truly a pleasure to see you so energetic after your… slumber." Her eyes then swept over the sight of Pro peeking from under the bed as if he were a mischievous raccoon.

Pro's cheeks burned with embarrassment. All he could do was wish for a cosmic reset button to start his absurd new life all over again.